Work Life & Arrangements — B1 Essential Words

promote /prəˈməʊt/ verb B1 Work

Meaning: To give someone a higher, more important job in the same organization; also to advertise or encourage something (promote a product, promote peace).

Example: She was promoted to manager.

Another example: The campaign promotes healthy eating.

Collocations: promoted to · promote health · promote a product

Synonyms: advance, upgrade, publicize

Antonyms: demote

Word family: promotion (n) · promoter (n) · promotional (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: Two careers in one verb: people get promoted up ladders; products get promoted into spotlights. Its noun does both jobs too.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its news is office life's best genre of email.

Register: Formal — work essential.

quit /kwɪt/ verb B1 Work

Meaning: To leave a job by your own decision; also to stop a habit or activity.

Example: He quit his job in June.

Another example: She quit smoking last year.

Collocations: quit his job · quit smoking · quit the team

Synonyms: resign (formal), leave, give up

Antonyms: join, start

Word family: quit (past — same) · quitting (n) · quitter (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Resign writes the letter; quit says it at lunch. 'Quitter' insults the habit sense, so jobs use 'moved on' in polite retellings.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its April peak follows bonus season like a shadow.

Register: Neutral — work essential.

shifts /ʃɪfts/ noun B1 Work

Meaning: Periods of work time in places that operate in turns (the day shift, the night shift); the workers of one period. A shift can also mean a small change (verb: to move slightly).

Example: Nurses work twelve-hour shifts.

Another example: She's on the night shift this week.

Collocations: night shift · work shifts · shift work

Synonyms: rotations, turns, schedules

Word family: shift (n singular) · shift (v) · shifty (adj — suspicious)

⚠ Common mistake: Shift work runs hospitals, factories, and airports around the clock. Its swapping ('Can we swap shifts?') is workplace diplomacy daily.

🗣 In spoken American English: The keyboard's SHIFT key is its typist cousin (changed case).

Register: Neutral — work essential.

full-time /ˌfʊl ˈtaɪm/ adjective / adverb B1 Work

Meaning: Working or studying for the whole normal working week (usually around 40 hours); on this basis.

Example: She got a full-time job.

Another example: He studies full-time.

Collocations: a full-time job · work full-time · full-time student

Synonyms: permanent (often), regular

Antonyms: part-time

Word family: full-time (adj/adv) · full-timer (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Its pair PART-TIME divides the working world. Benefits (health insurance, holidays) usually ride with this one in the US.

🗣 In spoken American English: Hyphens appear before nouns ('a full-time job'); adverbs drop them in some styles.

Register: Neutral — work essential.

part-time /ˌpɑːrt ˈtaɪm/ adjective / adverb B1 Work

Meaning: Working or studying for only some of the normal week — fewer hours or days.

Example: She works part-time at the library.

Another example: A part-time course fits his job.

Collocations: part-time job · work part-time · part-time hours

Synonyms: partial, reduced-hours

Antonyms: full-time

Word family: part-time (adj/adv) · part-timer (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Students, parents, and semi-retirees build lives on it. Its hours are the modern puzzle piece every schedule negotiates.

🗣 In spoken American English: Retail peaks invented its flexible rosters.

Register: Neutral — work essential.

freelance /ˈfriːlɑːns/ adjective / verb B1 Work

Meaning: Working independently for different companies on separate jobs, not as a permanent employee; a person who does this (a freelancer).

Example: He works freelance as a designer.

Another example: Freelancers set their own hours.

Collocations: work freelance · a freelance writer · freelance work

Synonyms: independent, self-employed, contract

Antonyms: employed, staff

Word family: freelancer (n) · freelance (v) · freelancing (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Medieval free lances were knights for hire — the word kept the independence and dropped the horse. Laptop cafés are its modern castles.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its freedom bills by the project and hunts its own clients.

Register: Neutral — modern work essential.

internship /ˈɪntɜːrnʃɪp/ noun B1 Work

Meaning: A period of work experience in a company for a student or recent graduate, often low-paid or unpaid, to learn a job and gain experience.

Example: Her summer internship led to a job.

Another example: He's doing an internship at a law firm.

Collocations: a summer internship · internship at · do an internship

Synonyms: placement, work experience, traineeship

Word family: internships (n pl) · intern (n/v) · internal (adj — different word!)

⚠ Common mistake: Its debate (paid vs unpaid) is a generation's argument. The person is an INTERN; do not confuse with internal (inside).

🗣 In spoken American English: Coffee runs are its folklore; real ones build résumés.

Register: Formal — work essential.

bonus /ˈbəʊnəs/ noun B1 Work

Meaning: Extra money paid to an employee in addition to salary, usually for good results; anything extra that is pleasant and unexpected.

Example: Staff got a Christmas bonus.

Another example: The sunny weather was a bonus.

Collocations: a bonus · bonus pay · year-end bonus

Synonyms: extra, reward, perk

Antonyms: deduction

Word family: bonuses (n pl)

⚠ Common mistake: Wall Street's are legendary; everyone else's is a happy surprise. Games add 'bonus points' — its playful branch.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its announcement email is December's favorite.

Register: Neutral — work essential.

commute /kəˈmjuːt/ noun / verb B1 Work

Meaning: The journey between home and work, done regularly; to travel this way.

Example: His commute takes an hour by train.

Another example: She commutes from the suburbs.

Collocations: a long commute · commute to work · commuter train

Synonyms: journey to work, travel, trip

Word family: commutes (n pl) · commuter (n) · commuting (n)

⚠ Common mistake: Remote work deleted it for millions — and podcasts lost their prime audience. Courts also 'commute' sentences (reduce them) — same word, courthouse branch.

🗣 In spoken American English: Its podcasts and audiobooks built empires in traffic.

Register: Neutral — work essential.

raise /reɪz/ noun / verb B1 Work

Meaning: An increase in pay (noun, US); to lift something up, to increase an amount, to bring up children or a topic, and to grow plants or animals (verb).

Example: She asked for a raise.

Another example: Raise your hand.

Collocations: a raise · raise your hand · raise prices

Synonyms: pay increase, lift, increase

Antonyms: pay cut, lower

Word family: raises (n pl) · raise (v) · raised (adj)

⚠ Common mistake: In the UK the noun is a 'pay rise'; in the US, a RAISE. The verb lifts hands, prices, children, and questions — a life's work in five letters.

🗣 In spoken American English: Asking for one is a rite of professional courage.

Register: Neutral — work essential.